I CAN'T BELIEVE THERE'S ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT OF SUMMER!! AHHHHH!! It has flown by SO FAST!! I know that I arrived at camp around mid-late June, but it feels like that was a couple weeks ago.
It is now mid-August. The air is now starting to get a bit cooler, and the days are starting to get a bit shorter. I have been leading mostly science activities this summer, but last session (10 days) I was able to be in a cabin, and work with a specific group of kids. I was a counselor for a group of 11-14 year old boys, along with 4 other staff members. It was different being in a cabin -- and in a good way. I was able to get to know a smaller group of kids, and know what their interests were and to experience camp in the way that they were able to experience it. It is a lot of work being in a cabin, and sometimes can be frustrating, but over all, they were a great group of kids. This next session I will be leading science activities again, but I now understand what the counselors experience and how they experience it (well sort of -- every cabin is different, especially with different kids). Maybe one of these days I will end up in a cabin again.
Leading the science activities has been great so far. I have lead brand new activities involving gardening/plants, crime scene investigations, decomposition, and fish dissections. I've also been leading activities that I lead for a bit last year as well, involving such things as adaptations, the scientific method through experimenting, and slime making. I think for next year, I may redo some activities that I did this summer, but also create brand new activities so that the kids that did science this year would have something new to learn and do.
So summer is ending in two weeks, with technically two more groups of kids to arrive at camp. Early September is when the school year begins again, and sometime in September I want to be taking a trip somewhere. I have not used any of my vacation days, and I feel like it is a good idea to take a break to go somewhere. Later on in the year I would like to go to Nicaragua for a couple weeks, but I feel like that is too long of a wait. I think I may be interested in going to the Adirondacks on the eastern portion of New York State, and visit/hike some of the peaks there. Maybe I'll go visit Acadia National Park in Maine, as I've never been on the East Coast before (Miami does not count). I've also been wanting to take a trip to NYC, but I may opt out of doing that this year, and possibly do it next year. I think I'm more interested in going camping and hiking somewhere new. I'll ask around to some friends to see if anyone is interested as well, but pretty sure I want to take a trip to the Adirondacks. It'll be very cool to go in the fall, when the leaves will be changing colors, and it'll be nice to get out of the city. I've also heard great things about it too. So that is what I've been thinking about these past couple days.
So yes. Summer is almost over, and I am a bit sad that it happened so quickly. It's been great being here though, and I'm glad that I was able to do it. I'll be seeing my kids from school soon, and it'll be nice to hear about what they've been doing this summer, and to get back into the groove of things. I'll give updates on what exactly I'll be planning on traveling to in September, and will post a few pictures then too!
